Can’t afford safari at Serengeti in Tanzania? This super luxe offering in Kent (yes, really!) is the next best thing

You can choose to upgrade your experience, which can include anything from a baboon scatter feed at £15 per person, to a ‘meet the gorillas’ experience at £150 per person. We plumped for the giraffe safari (£75 per person) which allows you to come, quite literally, face to face with a rhino or giraffe on a 2 hour adventure. The rangers are incredibly passionate about what they do and get you right up close to feed the animals – it is a truly unforgettable experience. You can tell they’ve really taken the time to replicate animal habitats as closely as possible and ensured that every enclosure has shelter and appropriate foliage. “We never lock an animal into a viewing area, instead we let them choose where they want to be and if they want to be seen,” our ranger tell us. “This means you may need to watch carefully and wait a while to spot your favourite species.”

Elsewhere at the park, you can explore the epic ‘Dinosaur Forest’, enjoy a picnic in the Manion’s beautiful grounds or let loose in the wooded playground.

Tearing our daughter away from Port Lympne was no mean feat but we will absolutely be back again – and without a nine hour flight, who wouldn’t?

Adult day ticket price: £29, Child day ticket price: £26. Accommodation prices start at £99 per night, ranging up to £2250, from glamping pods, cabin, treehouses, wigwams up to lion, Tiger and wolf lodges. For more information visit www.portlympne.com

Looking for alternative accommodation?

If you’d rather mix things up and stay off-site or extend your stay elsewhere, a friend recommended CABÜ by the Sea by hailing it as ‘Soho Farmhouse for kids’ and she wasn’t far wrong.

CABÜ has garnered a cult-like following of parents looking for a classic British beach getaway with all the luxurious amenities you’d find in a 5-star hotel. The setting is sublime: it lies on a natural stretch of privately owned grassland next to the seafront between Romney Marsh and the English Channel, with access to the beach just two minutes from your front door.